Rating: ★★★★ Genres: Drama, Romantic, Musical, Suspense Censor: U/A Duration: 130 min Studio/presenter: Video Palace, S.K. Production Films Producer: Suresh Pai Director: Aditya Ajay Sarpotdar Writer: Kshitij Patwardhan, Sameer Vidwans Lyrics:  Guru Thaakur, Kshitij Patwardhan, Manndar Cholkar, Satyajeet Ranade Music: Amitraj, Avinash-Vishwajeet, Troy-Arif, Pankaj Padghan Cinematographer (DOP): K.K. Manoj Cast: Ankush Choudhary, Sonalee Kulkarni, Sai Tamhankar, Sushant Shelar, Sachit Patil, Siddharth Chandekar, Suyash Tilak, Pallavi Patil, Sanjay Mone, Kishori Shahane, Ramesh Dev. Movie Review by: Jitendra R More

Every parting indicates a big loss; but, every reunion is a reminiscence. Based on this philosophy is ‘Classmates’, the latest offering from Aditya Sarpotdar. No matter, this film is an authorised remake of a South film, with the same name, Aditya has used his past seven years experience, to skilfully captain his team of talented performers. Set on the backdrop of a college life during 90s, the film begins with a scene 20 years later, when the classmates of 1995 batch reunite for a purpose, in their college. So, we witness the seven batch mates comprising of Satya (Ankush Chaudhari), Appu(Sai Tamhankar), Aditi (Sonalee Kulkarni), Rohit Bhosale, now a MLA (Sachit Patil), Pratap, now a Police Inspector( Sushant Shelar), Amit(Suyash Tilak), now husband of Appu and Heena ( Pallavi Patil), a Muslim woman and close friend of Aditi; attending the opening ceremony of the Music section in memory of their departed friend.

They are all welcomed by the lady principal (Kishori Shahane Viz), mother of late Ani (Siddharth Chandekar). As they are about to meet late in the evening, after the function, an unfortunate accident takes place in respect of one of their classmates. This being a biggest twist in the story, the film progresses with the investigation of the accident and at the same time, taking the viewers into flashback, to show the happenings twenty years ago, while they were in the college. So, we witness the acts of ragging, which prevailed those days, the rivalry between two groups, with the entry of politically backed youth wings, dance n music and of course the love affairs. In short, it is all in one contribution of action, saga, friendship, music and revenge.
Best thing about the film, is its well written screenplay by Sameer Vidwans and Kshitij Patwardhan and suitable dialogues by Kshitij, to meet the requirement of the realistic college lifestyle, during that period. But, above all the director Aditya Sarpotdar shows his presence through many important scenes. Watch the scene, where ace swimmer Sachit Patil folding his call letter from foreign university for admission, to support one of the tilting legs of the side table in his house.
This clearly displayed the gravity of the situation, where his father who is in deep trouble in Politics, requiring the support of his son and the son offering the same, through this act. Very cleverly, he has managed to unfold the mystery, in the screenplay. Though he gave a Marathi feel to this film, the two songs have a south Indian flavour. Even otherwise, barring two songs, the music is not very impressive. Perhaps, too many cooks couldn’t match well, with each other. But, the background score is simply fabulous. Good support comes from impressive camera work and sound design.
In the acting department, three actors have shown maturity in their acting, while portraying their respective characters. They are Ankush Choudhary , Sachit Patil and Siddharth Chandekar. All three of them stole the show, displaying diversity . The director has exploited their full potential. Among the females, Sonalee Kukarni has also shown lot of improvisation, in the role of Aditi. Sai Tamhankar suits well in the role of possessive Appu, but her performance is more dependent on the dialogues offered to her. Sushant Shelar and SuyashTilak are convincing, but Pallavi has been wasted in the role of Heena. Not much scope was given to this promising new find actress, who was picked up from the talent hunt programme of 9X Jhakas. Veterans like Kishori Shanane, Ramesh Deo and Sanajy Mone offer good support. But, the ultimate winner is Aditya Sarpotdar. He really stands tall, for his effective presentation style, in this story based and suspense filled film.